AP: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard aerospace chief, Gen. Ami Ali Hajizadeh, told state-run Press TV that that the RQ-170 Sentinel craft had not carried out missions over nuclear facilities before it went down in December 2011 near the eastern border with Afghanistan.
Iran says it decoded data from captured CIA drone
Standard Chartered to pay $327 mn to settle US sanctions probe
AFP: British bank Standard Chartered will pay the United States $327 million to settle charges it violated US sanctions on Iran as well as on Myanmar, Libya and Sudan, the US Treasury announced Monday.
Iranian nuclear challenge must be tackled in 2013: Israel
Reuters: Iran is getting ever closer to being able to build a nuclear bomb and the problem will have to be confronted in 2013, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
Sanctions hit Iranian manufacturing hard
AP: A conservative Iranian news website says the number of manufacturing companies in the country facing financial crisis has increased four-fold over the past four years to nearly 1,600.
For Iran, unrest in Syria is noise, not brutal war
New York Times: When Syria’s agricultural minister, Subhi Ahmad al-Abdullah, arrived in the Iranian capital for a visit last week, everybody involved stuck to a well-worn script.
Turkish police destroy smuggler’s oil pipeline with Iran
Reuters: Turkish authorities have shut down a small pipeline built by smugglers to carry illegal oil from Iran, officials said on Monday, a new twist as Western sanctions against Tehran bite.
N. Korea extends rocket launch window over Christmas
AFP: In a separate report Monday, the Chosun Ilbo — known for its comprehensive North Korean coverage — said a group of Iranian missile experts was in North Korea offering technical assistance for the planned launch.
Oil rebounds on China crude processing; OPEC to meet in Vienna
Bloomberg: Oil rose from the lowest level in three weeks in New York after China’s crude processing climbed to a record and industrial output beat estimates. OPEC meets in Vienna this week to discuss its production quota.
Saudi Arabia says Aramco cyberattack came from foreign states
Bloomberg: The kingdom has accused Shiite-led Iran, a fellow OPEC member, of interfering in the affairs of Arab countries in the Persian Gulf, home to three-fifths of the world’s proven oil reserves.
Afghans attack Iran consulate over alleged killings
AFP: Hundreds of angry demonstrators tried to storm the Iranian consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat on Sunday in protest at the alleged killing of Afghan immigrants by Iranian security forces.
